The Fire of Sense-Desire ... !!!
Bhikkhu Samahita
Friends:
The
Urge for Sensing Pleasure is an Obsessive Addiction!
Sense-Desire is the first, deepest and most
common mental hindrance (Nivarana).
The texts given below aim
at illustrating how this obsessive and addictive urge for
sensing only
pleasure in the form of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches
arise,
cease, and is finally
cured. The present-day dominance of the porno &
entertainment
industry speaks -in itself-
clearly of this problems abundance among humans today...
First priority: Noticing
Sense-Desire (kāma-chanda) -in itself- makes
it fade away:
Herein, Bhikkhus, when
sense-desire is present in him the bhikkhu notes & understands:
"There is
sense-desire in me," and when sense-desire is absent, he notes &
understands:
"There is no sense-desire in me." He also understands how
unarisen sense-desire arises.
He understands how to leave behind any arisen
sensual desire, and he understands how
left sense-desire will not arise
again in the
future.
MN 10
What is the feeding cause
that makes Sense-Desire
arise?
There are attractive and
alluring features and aspects of any object, frequently giving
irrational
& unwise attention to them, this is the feeding cause of the arising of
unarisen
sense-desire, and the feeding cause of the increase and expansion of
sense-desire that
already has arisen.
SN 46:51
What is the starving cause
that makes Sense-Desire
cease?
There are disgusting and
repulsive features and aspects of any object, frequently giving
rational
& wise attention to them, this is the starving cause of the non-arising of
unarisen
sense-desire, and the starving cause of the decrease and shrinking
of sense-desire that
already has arisen.
SN 46:51
Which medicine cures Sense-Desire, so that it does not re-arise
again in the future?
Six things leads to the
gradual leaving behind of sense-desire:
1. Learning how to meditate on
ugly & disgusting objects.
2. Frequent & intense meditation on
disgusting objects.
3. Guarding the sense doors.
4. Moderation in
eating.
5. Noble friendship with one who knows how to quell sense-desire.
6. Suitable conversation on the
disadvantages of hedonism.
Commentary to the Satipatthana Sutta
1. Learning how
to meditate on disgusting objects.
Meditation on disgusting
objects produces repulsion towards attractive objects as a
result.
AN 5:36
The 32 inner organs
of the body; A skin sac of bones with 9 oozing holes:
Herein, bhikkhus, a
bhikkhu reflects on just this body, confined within the skin and full
of
manifold ugly impurities from the soles upward and from the top of the
hair downwards:
"There is in this body: head-hair, body-hair, nails, teeth, skin,
flesh, sinews, bones, marrow,
kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs,
intestines, bowels, stomach, excrement, bile, pus,
blood, sweat, fat, tears,
lymph, spit, slime, snot, joint-fluid, urine and the brain in the
skull."
The 9 Corpse
Contemplations:
The Bhikkhu goes to a cemetery to see a corpse one day,
two days, three days dead:
Bloated, livid, putrid, rotting, stinking &
festering, he applies it to this very body:
'This body, too: Such is its
nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable destiny'...
He meditates as
if he were seeing a corpse cast away in a cemetery, picked at by
crows,
vultures, & hawks, by dogs, hyenas, & various other animals
... a skeleton covered partly
with flesh & blood, connected with sinews
... a fleshless skeleton smeared with blood,
connected with tendons ... a
skeleton without meat as a chain of bones connected with
tendons... as bones
detached from their tendons, scattered in all directions; here a
hand bone,
there a foot bone, here a shinbone, there a thigh bone, here a hip bone,
there a back bone, here a rib, there a chest bone,
here a shoulder bone, there a neck
bone, here a jaw bone, there a tooth,
here a skull...the bones whitened, somewhat like
the colour of sea-shells
... piled up, more than a year old ... crumbling into black powder.
This is
awareness focused on the body merely as a putrid & rotting form of
matter...
MN 10
As inspiration for this
acquisition of the sign of disgust (asubha-nimitta) curing any
lust
have a collection of corpse pictures been deposited at the link below.
It can only be viewed
by adults > 18 years logged in with Yahoo ID:
http://asia.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/clever_disgust/album?.dir=/f672
Such memorized image
of severe disgust is then directed to whenever greedy lust
re-arise.
If
the memorized image is vivid then this urge of desire instantly vanish since
disgust and
desire cannot co-exist in the
mind. Even just
noting the desire can cure it since such an
advantageous awareness cannot
occur in combination with detrimental thought of lust.
Therefore, at the
time of knowing the sense desire, that arose in the preceding moment,
that
sense desire no longer exists, but only the act of awareness knowing &
noting it...
3. Guarding the
sense doors:
And how, Bhikkhus, does one
guard the doors of the senses?
Seeing a form with the eye, one does neither
get caught by any of the general features,
nor does one become obsessed with
any particular detail of this captivating form...
Hearing a sound with the
ear, one does neither get caught by any of the common aspects,
nor does one
become infatuated with any specific detail of this sweet sound...
Smelling a
smell with the nose, one does neither get caught by any of the prevailing
qualities,
nor does one become as if possessed by any characteristic detail
of this seducing smell...
Tasting a taste with the tongue, one does neither
get caught by any of the prevalent hallmarks,
nor does one become as if
gripped by any peculiar detail of this dazzling taste...
Touching a thing
with the body, one does neither get caught by any of the regular
attributes,
nor does one become as if fixated by any typical detail of this
fascinating touch...
Thinking a thought with the mind, one does neither get
caught by any of the universal signs,
nor does one become as if immersed in
any distinct detail of this entrancing mental state...
Since, if one leaves
the sense ability of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body & mind
uncontrolled,
evil detrimental states of lust and discontent immediately
invade and degrade the mind...
Therefore does one practise & gain control
of the senses, one guards the doors of the senses,
one reins back the
senses, one keeps the senses restrained and in
check...
SN 35:239
Friends, there are these
forms recognizable by the eye, sounds recognizable by the ear,
smells
recognizable by the nose, tastes recognizable by the tongue, touches
recognizable by the body,
mental states recognizable by the mind, which are
attractive & liked, wished, longed & urged for,
desired and
provocative of both lust & greed. If one welcomes them, enjoys them &
thus remains
clinging to them, delight arises. With the arising of delight,
friends, I tell you, there is also the
arising of Suffering… However, if one
does neither welcome, enjoy, nor cling to any of these sense
objects, delight
ceases. With the ceasing of delight, friends, I tell you, there is also the
ceasing
of all longing, of all attachment, of all clinging, of all addiction,
of all bondage, of all
Suffering…
MN 145
4. Moderation
in eating:
How is a Bhikkhu moderate
in eating? In this, a Bhikkhu, reflecting rationally, eats food neither
for
the sake of entertainment, nor of infatuation, nor wishing for bodily beauty,
but exclusively
for the support and maintenance of this body, for ending of
discomfort, and for assisting this
Noble life, considering: In this way I
will now end this old feeling, yet without arousing any new
feeling!
Therefore will I remain healthy, blameless & in comfort... Exactly as one
anoints an open
wound, only for the purpose of making it heal, or just as one
greases an axle only for the sake of
easy transport of a heavy load, so does
a Bhikkhu, who is moderated in eating, eat food while
always
meticulously reflecting rationally in this very way
...
SN 35:239
5. Noble
friendship with one who knows how to cure sense-desire.
The entire holy life,
Ananda, is Noble friendship, Noble companionship, and Noble association.
Of
any Bhikkhu, Ananda, who has a Noble friend, a Noble companion, a Noble
associate,
it is to be expected that he will cultivate, practice &
complete the Noble 8-fold
Way.
SN 45:2
6. Suitable
conversation on the disadvantages of hedonism.
Some examples spoken by the
Blessed Buddha:
If the mortal, longing for
sensual pleasure, gets it, yes, then he is happy. But when the
pleasures
inevitably soon fade away, that person, longing, urging, desiring, is all
shocked,
as if shot with an
arrow...
Sutta Nipata IV, 1
Death carries off the man while distracted by
gathering flowers of sensual pleasures,
exactly & even so as a great
tsunami carries away a sleeping village. Dhammapada 47
Sense
objects give little satisfaction, but much urge, pain, panic and despair later.
The danger prevailing in them is bigger than their
joys. MN
14
Disguised as joy, appearing as attractive, falsely promising only
pleasure,
but longing, frustration,
& grief surprises and shocks the one not
aware!
Udana II - 8
With desire is the world
tied & enchained. With the overcoming of desire is it freed.
With the
overcoming of sense-desire are all bonds cut
through.
SN 1:69
Sense-desire is
like being in dept:
There is a man who has
acquired a debt and has become ruined. Now, if his creditors, when
telling
him to pay back the debt, speak roughly to him or harass and beat him, he is
unable to
put up any resistance, but will accept it all. It is his debt that
causes this feeble leniency.
Similarly with a man filled with sense-desire
for a certain person, he will, full of craving for
that object of his
desire, be attached to it. Even if spoken to roughly by that person, or
even
harassed or beaten, he will tolerate it all...! His sense-desire causes
that shy & frail weakness!
It is in this way, that sense-desire is like
being in debt.
Absence of
sense-desire is like freedom from dept:
A man, having taken a
loan, uses it for his business and comes to prosperity. He then thinks:
"This debt is a cause of worry." He returns the loan together with the
interest, and has the
loan papers torn up. After that he needs neither send
any letter to, nor bow to his creditors...
And why? He is no longer in debt
to them or dependent on them in any way.
Similarly a bhikkhu thinks:
"sense-desire is a cause of hindrance." He then cultivates the six
things
leading to its overcoming (see above), and removes the hindrance of
sense-desire. Just
as one who has freed himself of debt no longer feels fear
or anxiety, when meeting his former
creditors, so one who has given up
sense-desire is no longer attached and bound to the object
of his desire.
Even if he sees divine forms, neither passions, nor lust will assail or dominate
him.
Therefore the Blessed One compared the elimination of sense-desire to
freedom from debt.
Commentary on DN 2
A final shot at Hedonism: http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/Why_Not.htm
Blissful is being without
passions in this world,
Blissful is the overcoming of all
sense-desires!
Udana II, 1
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Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri
Lanka.
Friendship is the Greatest ...
Let there be Calm
& Free Bliss !!!
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